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On 21 August 2017, over 100 million people will gather in a narrow belt across the USA to witness the most watched total solar eclipse in history. Eclipse - Journeys to the Dark Side of the Moon, written by the widely read popular science author Frank Close, describes the spellbinding allure of this most beautiful natural phenomenon. The book explains why eclipses happen, reveals their role in history, literature and myth, and focuses on eclipse chasers, who travel with ecstatic fervour to some of the most inaccessible places on the globe to be present at the moment of totality. The book includes the author's quest to solve a 3000 years old mystery: how did the moon move backwards during a total solar eclipse, as claimed in the Book of Joshua?
It is an inspirational tale: how a teacher and an eclipse inspired the author, aged eight, to a life in science, and a love affair with eclipses, which takes him to a war zone in the Western Sahara, to the South Pacific and the African bush. The tale comes full circle with another eight-year old boy - the author's grandson - at the 2017 great American eclipse. Readers of all ages will be drawn to this inspirational chronicle of the mesmerizing experience of total solar eclipse.
List of contents
- 1: Peterborough 30 June 1954
- 2: Waiting for Godot
- 3: Preparation
- 4: Cornwall: 11 August 1999
- 5: June 21st is Midwinter's Day
- 6: "Who's arranged this eclipse?"
- 7: Earthshine in the Sahara: Libya 2006
- 8: The most remote eclipses
- 9: Atlantic Adventure
- 10: Back to the Future
- Epilogue: Everything under the Sun is in Tune
About the author
Frank Close, bedeutender Physiker der Gegenwart, leitet die Abteilung für Theoretische Physik am Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (GB). Zudem forscht er am Europäischen Zentrum für Elementarteilchenphysik CERN (CH) und gestaltet populärwissenschaftliche Fernsehsendungen der BBC. Für seine großen Erfolge in der laienverständlichen Vermittlung physikalischer Themen erhielt er die Kelvin-Medaille für Kommunikation in der Physik.
Summary
In August 2017, 100 million will gather across the USA to watch a total solar eclipse. This book, written by the widely read popular science author Frank Close, describes the spellbinding allure of this most beautiful natural phenomenon, taking the reader to a war zone in the Western Sahara, to the South Pacific, and to the African bush.
Additional text
There are a plethora of guides to eclipse chasing that will satisfy those who want to know all the whys and wherefores of predicting and observing eclipses ... The reader does get a real sense of the lasting impact these eclipses have had on Close and the feeling that being present in the umbral shadow is an experience not to be missed. As an introduction to eclipses and the places eclipse watching might take you, this is an interesting read.
Report
Entertaining, inspiring, and highly informative. John Riutta, Astronomy, Featured Book Reviews
